This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2002-38748 filed on Jul. 4, 2002, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of controlling a multi-compartment type kimchi refrigerator, which has and can efficiently refrigerate a plurality of storage compartments.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, storage compartments of a conventional multi-compartment type kimchi refrigerator are provided with evaporators to supply cold air, and refrigerant supplied from a single compressor is provided to the evaporators in the storage compartments through capillary tubes connected to the evaporators.
The conventional multi-compartment type kimchi refrigerator senses the temperatures of the storage compartments through temperature sensors provided to the corresponding storage compartments, and temperature information obtained from the storage compartments is transmitted to a control unit, which controls an operation of the refrigerator, to control the compressor. Additionally, valves are mounted in refrigerant passages connected to the evaporators, and are selectively opened and closed under the control of the control unit to control the supply of the refrigerant supplied from the compressor to the evaporators.
Accordingly, in the conventional multi-compartment type kimchi refrigerator, where a temperature of one of the storage compartments increases to a higher temperature than a preset reference temperature, the respective temperature sensor senses the increase of temperature of the storage compartment, and the control unit opens the corresponding refrigerant passage connected to the corresponding evaporator of the storage compartment by controlling the respective valve and operating the compressor. Accordingly, the storage compartment with the increased temperature is refrigerated.
However, in the conventional multi-compartment type kimchi refrigerator, where temperatures of two or more of the storage compartments increase to higher temperatures than the preset reference temperature, the valves corresponding to the two or more of the storage compartments are opened. As such, the entire amount and pressure of the refrigerant produced by the compressor are divided into a number of storage compartments to be refrigerated. In this case, only a small amount of the refrigerant having a low pressure is supplied to each of the corresponding evaporators. Accordingly, in such instances, the conventional kimchi refrigerator is problematic in that refrigeration efficiencies in the storage compartments decrease and the entire refrigeration cycle of the refrigerator becomes unstable.
Accordingly, an aspect of the present invention is to provide a method of controlling a multi-compartment type kimchi refrigerator, where in response to a signal to supply refrigerant to a plurality of evaporators, provides the entire amount of the refrigerant with the entire pressure, which is produced by a compressor, to a single compartment for a corresponding preset opening time. The method includes sequentially opening valves of the refrigerator according to the preset opening times of the valves, thereby improving a refrigerating efficiency of the multi-compartment type kimchi refrigerator.
Another aspect of the present invention is to provide a method of controlling a multi-compartment type kimchi refrigerator, which is capable of controlling and providing a constant amount and pressure of refrigerant to storage compartments of the refrigerator.
Additional aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
To achieve the above and other aspects of the present invention, there is provided a method of controlling a multi-compartment type kimchi refrigerator having storage compartments, evaporators which are mounted in the corresponding storage compartments to refrigerate the storage compartments, a compressor which supplies the evaporators with refrigerant, and valves which are mounted in respective inlet sides of the evaporators and are selectively opened and closed according to temperatures of the storage compartments, the method comprising selectively opening or closing the valves in priority order of operations of the valves in response to a signal to supply the refrigerant to two or more of the evaporators.
To achieve the above and other aspects of the present invention, there is provided another method of controlling a multi-compartment type kimchi refrigerator having storage compartments, evaporators which are mounted in the corresponding storage compartments to refrigerate the storage compartments, a compressor which supplies the evaporators with refrigerant, and valves which are mounted in respective inlet sides of the evaporators and are selectively opened and closed according to temperatures of the storage compartments, the method comprising determining whether supplying the refrigerant to two or more of the evaporators is necessary based upon the temperatures of the storage compartments, setting priority order of operations of the valves in response to a determination to supply the refrigerant to the two or more of the evaporators, calculating respective opening times of the valves according to the set priority order of operations of the valves, and opening the valves based upon the calculated respective opening times.